


Ways to Care

by Kitty514



Category: Travelers (TV)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, I'm pretty sure Ray's last name is Greene but I could be wrong, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-19 05:57:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9421514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitty514/pseuds/Kitty514
Summary: A relationship can change with every interaction.





	

“So, what, you’re just going to sit there and ignore me?”

Philip cocked his head to the side and reached out to place his fingers on the glass of Poppy’s aquarium, settling further down into his chair. Poppy inclined her head up towards him gently, as if acknowledging his presence. He heard Ray huff somewhere behind him. 

“I don’t get it. I’d go crazy stuck in a garage like this all day,” he said. “I’m going crazy right now. I don’t know why I bought it for you.” 

“I’m not stuck here all day,” Philip responded. “I go outside. Do things. Talk to people. I’m talking to you right now. Plus, I’m the one who helped get you the money for this place.” 

Ray moved into Philip’s line of vision, pulling a chair up to the table. He sat across from Philip, on the other side of Poppy’s tank. His face was slightly distorted by the layers of glass, making him look even more critical of Philip. 

“Am I your friend now or something?” Ray asked. His tone of voice was borderline sarcastic, but lurking beneath it was a heavier, more sincere aspect. 

Philip sat up straight, removing the sight barrier between them. “Only if you want to be,” he said cautiously. 

Brow furrowed, Ray watched as Philip pushed his hair out of his face. “For some reason, it seems like a dangerous thing to call myself.” 

A chuckle escaped Philip. “If only you knew the half of it. You’re the one who started caring about me, though.” 

A corner of Ray’s mouth quirked up for a half-second, then he looked like he was about to disagree, then he seemed to concede what Philip said. “You have a point.” An actual smile graced his features when Philip’s stomach growled suddenly. “Let me take you out to lunch, and get you out of this place for a while.” 

“I told you, I get out,” Philip said even as he stood up and grabbed his jacket from a nearby table. “But, I’m always up for food.” 

“It’s a date, then.” Ray paused, pulled on his jacket while staring at Poppy. “Not a date. You know what I mean.” 

“Hey,” Philip said, invading Ray’s personal space for a fraction of a second, “if it means you’re paying, it can be whatever you want it to be.” 

“I’d bet you’d like that.” 

“I thought we weren’t making anymore bets? Addiction is no joke, Ray.” Philip grinned at him, and Ray let out a short fake laugh. 

“You’re hilarious,” he said. He gave Philip a playful shove and headed for the door with Philip following behind him. “I’m so blessed to know you.” 

“And I’m blessed to have this amazing view of your a-” 

“Don’t finish that sentence if you know what’s good for you.” 

*** 

“This is the worst thing I’ve ever experienced.” 

Philip felt his stomach clench violently, but nothing came up. Yet. “How the fuck do you think _I_ feel?” he said before another wave of nausea overtook him. He gritted his teeth together against the feeling. 

Ray pulled a stray strand of Philip’s hair back out of his face and guided Philip’s face back over the toilet just in case. “I’m so glad gambling withdrawal really only makes me anxious. I hate throwing up, and I hate watching other people throw up. I’m on the verge of throwing up now, too.” 

Philip started to laugh, gagged, and then threw up, stomach acid burning his throat. He reached out blindly and grabbed a fistful of Ray’s shirt, clutching it tightly. Ray handed him a towel. Philip took it gratefully with his free hand and wiped his mouth. 

“Sometimes I really hate this host body,” Philip whispered, staring up at the water stains on the ceiling. 

“What are you talking about?” Ray asked, gently taking hold of Philip’s hand grasping his shirt. He started to pry it off, then stopped, letting his hand linger on Philip’s. 

Philip looked at Ray then, really looked at him. They’d been this physically close time-and-time-again, but Philip had never taken the chance to examine the lines sketched into Ray’s face, the stray bits of brown hair intermingled with the gray, his inquisitive green eyes. 

Philip turned his head away and the room began to spin. “You’d look good with a beard.” 

“And you’d look good not crouched over a toilet vomiting up your insides.” Ray ran a hand up-and-down Philip’s back languidly. “Plus, you didn’t answer my question.” 

Philip wanted to laugh bitterly but thought better of it, focusing instead on the movement of Ray’s hand. “Come back to me when I’m not ready to bash my head in against the toilet seat, and I’ll fill you in.” 

“You’re an odd man, you know that?” Ray said. 

Philip hummed noncommittally as he finally let go of Ray’s shirt. When he felt like he could keep the rest of his stomach’s dwindling contents inside him, he laid down on his side and settled his head on Ray’s lap. Ray froze for a moment. Then he gently placed his hand on Philip’s head, his fingers idly playing with his hair. 

Philip sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of Ray’s body mingling with his. “This is nice.” 

“If this is what you classify as nice, I’d be scared to see what you think is bad.” 

*** 

“Put the poptart down, Phil.” 

“Or what, you’ll slap it out of my hand?” 

There was barely any time to react before Ray snatched the poptart from Philip and dumped it in the trashcan next to his computer table. He raised his eyebrows at Philip, his body faintly outlined by the dying light fighting its way into the garage. 

“I was eating that,” Philip said, staring into the trashcan. 

“I made dinner,” Ray stated simply. 

“What?” 

“I keep feeding you fast food, and all I ever see you feed yourself is junk food. So I made dinner for us, back at my place. And it’s not full of grease and sugar.” 

“The food or your place? Wait, no, put the poptart box down. I apologize, I swear.” 

Ray set the box back down on the table. “Finish up whatever you need to and I’ll drive you.” 

Philip closed down what he’d been working on and pulled on his jacket as he stood up. Ray was lingering by Poppy’s tank, feeding her a feeder cricket. Philip stuffed his hands into his pockets and wandered over to him, bumping their shoulders together as he looked at Poppy. 

Ray put the crickets back where they came from. “You ready to go?” 

“Yeah,” Philip responded, not really wanting to move just yet but knowing he shouldn’t overstep his boundaries. He let Ray lead him to his car, and they sat in comfortable silence the entire drive. It wasn’t until they were in Ray’s apartment that Philip broke the silence between them. 

“Wow,” he said, “this is a nicer place than I imagined.” 

Ray let out a laugh as he threw his coat over the back of the couch and rolled up his sleeves, much to Philip’s distraction. “That’s probably because you’ve been living in a garage for the past few weeks.” 

Philp tore his eyes off of Ray. “True. There’s only so much luxury in a place like that.” He roamed about the sitting area, glancing at photos on the wall of Ray and what must be his family. He eventually stepped into the kitchen, leaning against the doorway, watching Ray pull a covered glass dish out of the fridge and turn on the oven. 

Ray turned around and stared at Philip for a moment. “I don’t feed just anyone, you know.” 

Philip shared a smile with him, and it felt like some sort of secret had passed between them unspoken. “Is this an actual date now?” he asked teasingly. 

A grin crossed Ray’s face. “I’m really starting to think you actually want to go on one with me.” 

“Would that be so hard to believe?” 

Ray fell silent, and Philip’s stomach turned over. It had been too much, hadn’t it? He didn’t want to scare Ray off. Philip opened his mouth to say something, turn the situation into a joke, but the oven beeped and Ray’s attention was momentarily absorbed in putting the dish in. 

Ray straightened up and gestured to the table, and Philip took the hint to sit down. Ray sat down next to him with a sigh. 

“So, are you going to tell me what the heck you were talking about a couple days ago while you were chucking up your insides?” Ray asked warily, like he wasn’t expecting any real answer. 

Philip cleared his throat and sat back. At least Ray wasn’t telling him to get out. “You’re not going to believe me.” 

“As long as you don’t tell me you’re a time trav-” 

“I’m a time traveler.” 

Ray snapped his mouth shut. He leveled Philip with a gaze for a few seconds. Then he shrugged and leaned back in his chair, waiting for Philip to elaborate further. 

Philip jumped at the chance, spilling everything he’d been keeping a secret since he got to the twenty-first century. He’d been aching to tell someone, but never knew who until right then as he sat next to Ray. Maybe it was because they were friends that Philip felt it so important to tell him, or maybe it was something much deeper than that. Maybe he really did want to date Ray, no matter how absurd he’d be told it was. He was breaking protocol by telling Ray who he really was and what happened in the future, but in that moment it was all he wanted to do. 

Ray, for his part, sat silently until Philip finished speaking. “That’s how you knew what to bet on, isn’t it?” he said. “I thought you were joking about being from the future, but it all kind of makes sense now that I think about it.” 

“Really?” Philip said. “You’re not just playing around with me?” 

Ray shook his head, gazing at Philip thoughtfully. “You seem too sincere about this, and I know you’re not on anything at the moment.” 

“You can’t tell anyone what I told you.” Philip warned, leaning forward. 

“If I did say anything, people would think I’m crazy.” Ray leaned forward a bit, too. “Why are you even telling me this? I know I asked, but I thought you’d give me some bullshit story. I thought it _was_ a bullshit story until about halfway through.” 

Both Ray and Philip jumped when the oven timer went off. Philip stared at the table while Ray stood up and pulled the food out of the oven He only dragged his eyes away from the table once Ray set a plate of chicken mixed with sweet potatoes and pecans down in front of him. 

“It’s my mother’s recipe,” Ray said, pointing his fork at Philip. “If you don’t eat it, I’ll take it as a personal insult towards her.” 

Philip stifled a smile, and picked up his own fork to eat. Ray chatted about his family when Philip asked him about the subject, and he listened contentedly, feeling calmer than he had in a long time. He felt lighter now. Philip smiled as he finished eating, overwhelmed at someone caring about him enough to make food for him and listen to his outlandish story. 

“What’s got you so happy all of a sudden?” Ray asked. “I don’t think my cooking’s _that_ good, or else I wouldn’t be an attorney.” 

Philip shook his head minutely and moved his hair out of his face. “I’m thinking about you.” 

“Me? I’m so good-looking that you can’t help but smile, is that it?” 

“Well, that, too, but-” Philip cut himself off and glanced at Ray, who was looking at him with raised eyebrows. He couldn’t keep his thoughts to himself around the man, it seemed. “Uh, that came out wrong. What I meant to say, is that I appreciate you making food for me.” 

Ray kept looking at Philip until Philip picked up their plates and took them to the sink to wash, needing to do something to do with his hands. 

“You never explained why you chose to explain all that time travel stuff to me,” Ray said. 

Philip was quiet as he scrubbed down the plates and forks, then dried them off. When he was done, he stared at the wall in front of him. “Because I like you. I like having you around. It didn’t feel right to keep you in the dark about all of it, especially when you’ve done so much for me.” 

“I didn’t do that much. We were basically using each other to fuel our addictions when we first met.” 

A scraping sound came from behind Philip, a chair being moved across the floor. “But not anymore,” he said as he turned around and leaned back against the counter. Ray was standing behind him, a few feet away. “We’re different now, in a good way, and I think it’s because of us trying to make each other better. I can see that, after getting to know you like this. We’re not great people, granted, but we could be worse.” 

Ray didn’t respond, just gazed at Philip for a long moment. There wasn’t any hardness in his eyes, only a soft, searching look. Philip pushed off the counter and took two steps forward, leaving only inches between them. Ray stood still, still looking at Philip. 

Philip licked his lips, and Ray’s eyes flickered down to follow the movement. Philip tentatively reached out and placed his hands gently on either side of Ray’s neck, where his quickened pulse filled the spaces between each of Philip’s heartbeats. Ray leaned forward, his hands landing on Philip’s waist. 

A beat of hesitation passed between them, then Philip closed the gap and kissed Ray softly, letting his lips linger on Ray’s. With all the death and destruction and inescapable fates Philip was faced with day-in and day-out, this was so sweet, so gentle that he felt like he was falling apart right then-and-there. He broke the kiss but didn’t move away, his breath mixing with Ray’s. He felt like if he tried to move his legs, he’d collapse. 

Ray was the first to move, kissing the outline of Philip’s jaw. “Are you sure you want this? Us?” he asked. “I know we can make each other better, but we can also make each other worse if we misstep.” 

Philip drew in a breath, wrapping his arms around Ray’s shoulders to support himself. “Yes. I’m sure. I’m willing to take that risk. But, are you?” 

Gentle fingers found their way into Philip’s hair, playing with the strands. “I’ll take the jump with you.” 

**Author's Note:**

> [My tumblr](http://kitty-514.tumblr.com)
> 
> [My Wattpad](https://www.wattpad.com/user/Kelby_H)
> 
> Feel free to come chat with me about anything


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